“Seriously? Not a single survivor?”
“Correct. The only new vampires are those that are born from a vampire mother.”
“But it stands to reason that if vampires were created once, they could be created again.”
“True. But no one knows what recent attempts are lacking. Either the tainted blood my father and his men consumed is no more, or human bodies have evolved, becoming resistant. Sometimes, for reasons we haven’t yet figured out, the vampire involved even dies with the human.”
So that was out. He wouldn’t risk Victoria. He sighed. What was he going to do, then?
“Turn left here,” she said.
He did, and soon found himself meandering along a dirt road on the outskirts of the town square, the backs of buildings facing another strip of forested land. Gravel crunched under the tires, and the car bounced. No one was in sight. Only a red corvette.
“Park here.”
He eased to a stop and turned off the car. They unbuckled simultaneously, and he peered over at her. She wore a black T-shirt, as usual, and was clutching the hem. Seeing her fingernails reminded him of the polish in his backpack.
Aden reached to the back of the car, unzipped his pack and dug inside. When his fingers curled around the small, cool glass, he tugged it free, praying it was as pink and glittery as John had promised. It was. Thank God.
“Before you show me whatever it is you plan to show me, I wanted you to have this.” Gulping, suddenly nervous, he held it out to her. “For you. Well, your toes.”
She looked down at it, up at him, then down again, her mouth opening and snapping closed several times. “Me?”
Did that mean she liked it? “You mentioned the colors inside Mary Ann’s house and well, I thought maybe you—”
“I love it!” she said, throwing herself into his arms and raining little kisses over his face. When one of those kisses landed on his mouth, she stilled. Her smile fell away. She pressed another kiss to his lips, this one soft and slow, her tongue slipping inside.
He was cut and bruised, and the kiss hurt, but he wouldn’t have stopped her for anything. He just wrapped himself around her and held on, savoring the contact. He inhaled deeply, drinking in the floral scent of her hair, enjoying the heady flavor of her. All that heat…
There was a tap at the window.
They jumped apart as if burned. Aden was reaching for his daggers when he spotted Riley’s harsh, intense face. Mary Ann stood behind him, paler than he’d ever seen her.
Frowning, he opened the door and emerged. The cool interior of the car gave way to the heat of the day. One thing he hated about Oklahoma was how one day could be bone-chilling and the next a sauna.
He hadn’t heard Victoria move, but suddenly she was beside him. “Well?” she asked.
“It’s only getting worse,” Riley said.
Victoria stiffened, and Aden wrapped an arm around her waist.
“What is?” he asked. He was finally here. Someone needed to tell him what the hell was going on.
“Come. I’ll show you.”
Aden ran his tongue over his teeth. Would no one give him a straight-up answer?
Riley turned, took Mary Ann’s hand and stalked through the alley between two of the buildings, remaining in the shadows. “We shouldn’t have brought you here at all, but we needed you to see what’s out there and be able to identify the different species at a glance.”
Confused, Aden followed, never releasing Victoria. He remained on guard, ready to attack anything that moved. To his surprise, nothing leapt out at them. Also to his surprise, he saw only crowds of people walking in every direction when he reached the front of the buildings. More people than he’d assumed lived in this small tri-city area, sure. But where was the harm in that?
“See that woman?” Victoria pointed to an average-size female with plain brown hair, plain features, a brown top and faded jeans. She would have blended into any crowd, unnoticed, completely forgettable.
“Yes.”
“She’s a witch and she’s cloaked herself in magic. What you see is not what she truly looks like.”
His attention sharpened on her, and he noticed the alertness of her gaze as she scanned those around her. There was even a glow that enveloped her, slight though it was, as if the sun was drawn to her more than any other. She studied everyone she neared, even reached out and touched a few, as if expecting to be jolted. When nothing happened, she would frown with disappointment and move on.
“How do you know what she is?” he asked. “How can you tell?”
“You have to train your eyes to look past the surface,” Mary Ann said, as if she were quoting something she’d already been told. She probably was.
“Witches can bless with one hand and curse with the other,” Victoria explained. “Some wield more magic than others, but all are dangerous.”
“I’ve been listening to a few conversations,” Riley said. “The witches want to capture you, Aden, though they don’t yet know who you are, to use you to increase their powers. They think whoever summoned them is a mighty wizard. My advice is to avoid capture.”
“Oh, really? ’Cause I never would have thought of that on my own,” he said dryly.
Riley continued on as if he hadn’t spoken. “If you’re captured, when they finish with you, you will be a shell of your former self. They will drain you.”
“So noted.”
“The man behind her is fairy,” said Victoria. The disgust in her voice was palpable.
Aden quickly shifted his focus. The man—or teenager, probably eighteen—was tall and muscled, his skin boasting just a hint of glitter. He had golden hair and golden eyes. Everyone who passed him, male and female alike, stared at him, craning their necks to watch him as long as possible. Except for the witch, Aden noticed. She ran in the opposite direction.
“Like vampires, fairies are drainers,” Victoria continued. “Only instead of blood, they live off of energy. Vampire, witch, it doesn’t matter. Well, that’s not true. They do not drain humans. They consider themselves protectors of humankind, gods among men.”
“You mentioned goblins were here, as well.” Flesh-eaters. He shuddered, feeling phantom corpses biting at him. “Where are they?” If he could learn to identify them, he could evade them.
“And demons,” Mary Ann said with a shudder of her own. “Don’t forget those.”
“The goblins only emerge at night, their eyesight too sensitive to the sun,” Riley said. “Tell your friends to stop going out after dusk. The missing persons count is about to skyrocket. The death toll, as well.”
Because of me, Aden thought. Because he’d seen Mary Ann. Because he’d remained in this town.
“Oh, God.” Mary Ann covered her mouth with her hand as if she’d just realized the extent of the danger they were in, tears threatening to spill from her eyes. “People are going to die?”
Riley kissed the top of her head. “Don’t worry. We’ll do what we can. As for the demons, they are harder to spot. Some have learned to mask their auras.”
“How did they get here?” Aden asked. “On earth, I mean. And how long have they been here?”
“They’ve been here for thousands of years. Before the walls of hell were reinforced, a few escaped their fiery prison. They could not pass themselves off as humans—the scales, horns and forked tongues gave them away—so they passed themselves off as gods. They mated with humans and half demon, half human babies were born. These children still could not pass as humans, nor could their children or their children’s children. Eventually, though, the offspring were able to insert themselves into society. Thieves, murderers, those who are purely evil can often trace their lineage back to the first demons.”
Purely evil. Like Tucker.
“Tucker,” Mary Ann said, clearly mirroring his thoughts.
Riley nodded. “In some way, yes, though we don’t know what…”
“What else is out there?” Aden asked. What else wanted to use him?
“Anything, everything, though the others have not yet arrived in Crossroads.” Victoria rested her head on Aden’s shoulder. “Dragons, angels, valkryies, shape-shifters of every kind. Most live in harmony with the other creatures, but several of the races are at war. Perhaps that is why they’re late to this party. Or, if we’re lucky, they won’t come at all.”
Mary Ann swiped at her tears with the back of her hand. “What should we do?”
Aden raised his chin, realizing what had to be done. Mary Ann worried for her father. Victoria worried for her people. Riley, well, he probably worried for Mary Ann. The look the werewolf had given her reminded Aden of how he must surely regard the vampire princess.
“I’ll pack up and leave,” he said. “The creatures will follow me, and everyone here will be safe.”
“No!” Victoria straightened with a jolt. “They’ll follow you wherever you go, yes, but that will place more and more people in danger. You and Mary Ann are both safest here because the only time your signal is muted is when you’re with her.”
“But when she’s with Riley, all of my powers remain. Even now, I can hear my companions in the back of my mind. He has some kind of effect on her ability to neutralize.”
Riley’s head tilted to the side. “Maybe I don’t affect her at all. Maybe I affect you. I wonder if deep down you sense that I am a predator, so your defenses and adrenaline work overtime while I’m around, seeping through whatever block Mary Ann places on you.”
They had so much to learn. Too much, it seemed. Where was he supposed to find the answers?
“Come, we must go,” Victoria suddenly said, tugging him deeper into the shadows.
Why? Aden returned his focus to the town square. The fairy had switched directions and was now headed toward their building. Not good. That fairy had the power to drain Victoria, to hurt her. And staying with her would only place her in more danger.
